Good day for Pa. Dems, but GOP keeps control of state Legislature

Pennsylvania Democrats swept all three statewide row offices up for grabs, kept control of a U.S. Senate seat, and eroded the GOP's majority in the state Senate. Oh, and Barack Obama won Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes on his way to winning a second term as president.

The Democrats had a lot to cheer about Tuesday night as Sen. Bob Casey won a second six-year term and Obama maintained the party's hold on a state that hasn't picked a Republican for president in nearly 25 years.

It wasn't a total washout for the GOP. They retained control of the state Legislature and picked up a U.S. House seat to command a 13-5 majority of the state's congressional delegation.

But they couldn't oust Casey -- namesake son of the late governor and longtime fixture on the state's political scene -- even though their candidate, Tom Smith, poured millions of dollars of his own coal mining-industry fortune into the campaign.

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In the mostly low-profile but aggressively fought Senate contest, Smith had portrayed his opponent as a do-nothing rubber stamp of Obama. Casey, in turn, cast Smith as a tea party darling whose positions were too extreme for Pennsylvania, an argument that won the day in a state where Democrats hold a million-plus voter registration edge.

Obama, meanwhile, fended off a late incursion by GOP challenger Mitt Romney to extend the Democrats' winning streak to six presidential elections.

The presidential campaign had bypassed Pennsylvania -- seemingly confirming its diminished status as a battleground -- until a late blitz of TV ads and visits by Romney and his Republican allies. The Obama campaign responded in kind, defending a state crucial to the incumbent's re-election. No Democrat has won the White House without Pennsylvania in 64 years.

Democrats called Romney's play for Pennsylvania an act of desperation and were quick to distribute a list of earlier GOP contenders who'd made similar last-minute forays, only to see their hopes crushed on Election Day.

An exit poll conducted for The Associated Press and television networks found Pennsylvania voters to be most concerned about the economy, with six in 10 calling it their top issue and only one in five saying they're better off today than they were four years ago. But many said weren't prepared to hand the White House keys to Romney.

Amid heavy turnout and some confusion over the state's suspended voter-identification law, Pennsylvanians also put Democrats in charge of three statewide row offices.

The open seat for attorney general attracted the most attention as Kathleen Kane, a former prosecutor from Lackawanna County, became the first woman elected to the office -- and the first Democrat -- since its creation in 1980. She beat Republican David Freed, the Cumberland County district attorney.

Democratic State Treasurer Rob McCord won re-election to a second four-year term, downing Republican Diana Irey Vaughan, a longtime Washington County commissioner. And in the race for auditor general, the state's independent fiscal watchdog, Democrat Eugene DePasquale of York County beat Republican John Maher of Allegheny County. Incumbent Jack Wagner is stepping down after serving the maximum two consecutive terms.

Republicans took advantage of a newly drawn congressional map to pick up a seat held by the Democrats, with conservative Republican Keith Rothfus ousting Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Critz in the rejiggered 12th District in western Pennsylvania. Few of the other congressional races were competitive this year.

Republicans also kept their majorities in both chambers of the Legislature, though Democrats managed to pick up three Senate seats, narrowing the GOP margin to 27-23.

The Senate Democrats' campaign coordinator said the results will transform business in the Capitol, arguing his Republican counterparts will need the votes of moderate members in the Philadelphia suburbs.

"This changes the entire dynamic in Harrisburg," said Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17, of Delco and Montco. "Keep in mind, we passed a lot of extreme legislation. Often three or four Republicans would break away -- they still had the votes to pass it. Now they're going to need virtually every Republican on every vote."